NOVELL’s ONE NET

What is common between Amitabh Bachchan and Novell? Both reigned as superstars once. Both have seen trying times thereafter, taking them to the brink of disaster. One gets reinvented a la Kaun Banega Crorepati, networking the people of a nation caught in a frenzy of quizzing. But when will Novell’s turn, to catch the fancy of vast multitudes of people, come? It could be now, with its new strategy.

Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO, Novell, has wrought a new vision for the company, called ‘one Net’ (not to be mistaken with Microsoft’s ‘dot Net’–Schmidt announced his plan before Gates did).

Keith C Osborne, VP, Novell Asia-Pacific, said, “Novell is effecting a shift in its focus, keeping its traditional OS business to support the backend and running foreground with what we call ‘Net services software’.” This is because Novell’s legacy as a NetWare-centric company has not helped them in the past couple of years. The company was fast losing ground to Windows NT and 2000, and the Linux movement was growing. Shunning the NetWare-centric path therefore makes sense. If the company strictly means what it says, it is seeking to gain a foothold in a new market while continuing to rely on the OS business.

Barely four years ago, after a series of fiscal woes and executive upheavals at the top, Novell was a company with few products and no strategy to tackle the emergence of the Internet. In came Eric Schmidt as CEO, hired from Sun Microsystems. Having been the chief technologist there, Schmidt had to his credit the making of Java. It took four years to get Novell fully oriented towards the Internet. The pieces were only being made ready then, and now is the time to finally roll. And this time the company is calling itself a Net infrastructure services provider and its business is services and Net software.

Weaving the fabric

A new architectural model called directory-enabled Net infrastructure model (DENIM) is the framework that will hold Novell’s Net services and software together. This architecture has a directory service straddling all the Net services that will help manage the network and make it secure; store, publish and deliver content; and provide portal services to networks of any type regardless of standards and variety of OSs.

Osborne clarifies, “DENIM is not a product but a model comprising various Novell and third-party products which when tied up helps businesses simplify the complexities of the Net. It will securely extend and integrate their applications and networks between companies to accelerate the transformation to e-business.”

Such a model is then required to transform enterprise information, Web servers and e-business applications into a single network services model, allowing organizations to build a more optimized, automated and personalized Net presence.

The enterprise impact

An impact of the IT Act will be on the burgeoning e-economy, paving the way for digital commerce–and for the long-awaited legalization of financial transactions on the Internet. With this will come opportunities for online transactions, online buying and selling, credit card processing and cash settlement on the net across borders. ISP Satyam Infoway, for instance, is about to commence its Safescrypt joint venture with Verisign, a global major in digital authentication and certification, for online transactions in India.

Of course, there’s a healthy dose of criticism and skepticism about the Cyberlaws. Says Mukund Kumar, VP, IMG Harita Infoserve, "These laws have not been understood by many. Even if they were, their implementation will be complex." Especially across geographies. "Unless there is a common universal law in place, the IT Act will not be fully effective."

Other industry persons say that the laws do provide a legal framework for companies to fall back on in case of breach of contract or non-fulfillment–but that security issues would be better addressed by public key infrastructure (PKI). This will enable digital certification and authentication of both businesses and individuals, so that there is the reassurance of being able to accurately identify the parties one deals with online. Such authentication is legally recognized and admissible in a court which in fact will give companies the security to venture online for e-commerce.

Concerns

As a new and emerging area, there are several concerns from the enterprise segment about the effectiveness of these laws. "There is a need for a ‘cyber army’ or Cyber Emergency Response Team, as in other countries, that would advise and guide the netizens on what is to be done after a crime or disaster has occurred," says Naavi. Although the law has not explicitly provided for such a team, the government could do this separately. The ministry is working on providing information security management to the SME segment, to familiarize companies here with prevalent international practices and standards available in online trading, and sensitize the enterprise on how to handle attacks from viruses and hackers. It’s also taking steps to create awareness about the latest technologies available internationally, and to certify Indian enterprises based on standards in this arena.

Another enterprise need is a protective umbrella to key infrastructure and the enterprise segment. "A new initiative is the National Infrastructure Protection Center, which will protect key infrastructure such as electricity and telephones within the country," Chakravarti says. In addition, the government is also mid-way into a project to create core competency in the network security domain in the country.

There’s also criticism of the Cyber Regulations Appellate Tribunal. Says Naavi. "This is an apex body that will advise the ministry on cyberlaws," he says. "Then how can this tribunal comprise members from the ministry?"

Other issues include some ambiguity in the way the cyber crimes have been classified in two different chapters of the Act, omission of some aspects related to intellectual property rights and privacy in the IT Act.

Chakravarti says the Ministry is open to any changes that have to be made in the IT Act. "We can include any point that we may have left out, now and as and when new requirements emerge. After all, we cannot anticipate all the security issues before hand."

Despite these issues, most in the industry agree that the Indian government has done well to respond early to the requirements of the new economy, in formulating the IT Act 2000. The Act should have a positive impact on the enterprise and the economy, helping accelerate the penetration and use of e-enabling tecnologies.

DQ Live SlideShow

Pradeep Gupta, CMD, CyberMedia Group welcoming Dr Arvind Gupta, National Head Information Technology, BJP. Dr Gupta was the Chief Guest of the evening

(L-R) Sunil Sharma, VP, Sales, India & Saarc, Cyberoam and Dr Arvind Gupta, National Head IT giving the Dataquest Business Technology Award to Sapient Consulting for the best IT implementation in security, mobility, unified communications, and infrastructure management

Jubilant Lifesciences received the award for best IT implementation in analytics, mobility, cloud, ERP/SCM/CRM

ING Vysya Bank received the award for best IT implementation in mobility and ERP/SCM/CRM, infrastructure management

Escorts received the award for best IT implementation in analytics and security

Amity received the award for best IT implementation in security and unified communications

LV Bank received the award for best IT implementation in unified communications

Biocon received the award for best IT implementation in mobility and unified communications

Happiest Minds received the award for best IT implementation in security and cloud

HCL Infosystems received the award for best IT implementation in cloud and ERP/SCM/CRM

Evalueserve received the award for best IT implementation in security and cloud

Sterlite Technologies received the award for best IT implementation in analytics and cloud

Serco Global received the award for best IT implementation in mobility and cloud

Intellect Design Arena received the award for best IT implementation in cloud and unified communications

Reliance Entertainment received the award for best IT implementation in analytics and cloud

Canon India received the award for best IT implementation in analytics

Persistant Systems received the award for best IT implementation in analytics

ILFS received the award for best IT implementation in infrastructure management

eClerx received the award for best IT implementation in analytics

Sesa Sterlite received the award for best IT implementation in ERP/SCM/CRM

Hero Moto Corp received the award for best IT implementation in ERP?SCM?CRM

KPIT received the award for best IT implementation in unified communications

JK Tyres received the award for best IT implementation in analytics

Idea Cellular received the award for best IT implementation in analytics

Godfrey Philips received the award for best IT implementation in infrastructure management

Aviva Life Insurance Co received the award for best IT implementation in infrastructure management

Hindalco received the award for best IT implementation in analytics

Aircel received the award for best IT implementation in unified communications

Dr Lal Path Labs received the award for best IT implementation in cloud

Gati received the award for best IT implementation in mobility

Perfetti Van Melle received the award for best IT implementation in cloud

Sheela Foam received the award for best IT implementation in mobility

Tata Communication received the award for best IT implementation in ERP/SCM/CRM

NDTV received the award for best IT implementation in analytics

Hindustan Power received the award for best IT implementation in mobility